1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head suitable for use in combination with a magnetic recording disk (or hard disk) and a process for fabricating the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a floating-type magnetic head and a process for fabricating the same.
2. Related Art Statement
The floating-type heads are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,284 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,572. At present, most of the hard disks are fabricated as magnetic recording mediums by applying magnetic powder of oxides to an aluminum alloy substrate. According to demand for the high recording density of recent years, however, a hard disk fabricated by plating or sputtering the substrate with a magnetic material comes into use. The magnetic disk becomes more small-sized and compact by using the plated or sputtered disk, and a drive source such as a motor for driving the disk becomes thinner and requires less torque.
The floating magnetic head constructed as described above is kept in light contact with the magnetic disk by the force of a spring, while the magnetic disk remains at rest. While the magnetic disk is rotating, the air near the surface of the magnetic disk is similarly moved to exert a force for lifting the lower surface of the slider. During the rotation of the magnetic disk, therefore, the magnetic head floats up and stays away from the magnetic disk.
When the rotation of the magnetic disk starts and stops, the magnetic head slides on the magnetic disk. As regards the condition of the contact to be established when the rotation of the magnetic disk is stopped, the flow of the air on the surface of the magnetic disk is slowed down gradually as the rotation of the magnetic disk is reduced. At the moment that the magnetic head is wholly derived of its buoyance, the magnetic head collides with the surface of the magnetic disk, rebounds thereon, and lands again on the surface of the disk. After repeating this series of motions several times, the magnetic head is brought to a stop as though it were dragged on the magnetic disk. The magnetic head is required to withstand these impacts exerted thereon during the start or stop of the rotations of the magnetic disk. This performance may be referred to hereinafter as the CSS (Contact-Start-Stop) resistance property.
The disk surface prepared by the aforementioned plating or sputtering method is finished to acquire a better facial accuracy than that of the applied type of the prior art. This causes a problem of sticking between the head and the disk surface, although the problem is not serious in the prior art. Specifically, as the facial accuracy of the surface facing the magnetic recording medium grows higher, the surface of the stationary disk and the opposed surface of the head will stick. If this sticking force between the head and the disk grows excessively strong, the life of the CSS resistance property of the device is shortened. The problem becomes serious especially for the device in which several disks are combined.
In order to solve that sticking phenomenon, a variety of treatments exist for making the surface of the head facing the disk coarse to some extent. However, none of them achieves sufficient effects.